News from the National Archives

Today Gerry might be all but forgotten, but his participation in the Constitutional Convention was key to shaping our government.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/gerry.html#20100916

A fight against bias in the Army presages a historic baseball career for Jackie Robinson.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/spring/robinson.html

Looking for men who did not serve in the Civil War.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/winter/civil-war-draft-records.html

Nearly one-quarter of NARA's holdings are located in its regional archives, and there may be one near you.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/regions.html#20100902

The search for the real people whose stories live within the records of the National Archives brings surprises, joy, and sadness.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/extraordinary-stories.html#20100902

How the producers of The Sound of Music altered the story of the family that endeared itself to audiences on stage and screen.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html#20100902

Exploring court records created during the building of the Atlantic-Pacific link.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/fall/panama.html

She stood up to a President, became the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court, and helped stir the woman suffrage movement.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/belva-lockwood-1.html#20100819

In providing "advice and consent" for Presidential appointments, the Senate has also produced controversy and drama.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/senate-nominations.html

St. Elizabeths Hospital in the District of Columbia has a storied past preserved at the National Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/institutional.html

Throughout the 20th century, White House conferences on children served as snapshots of the nation's youth.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/youth.html

Prison records can be a surprisingly rich ? if disconcerting ? source of genealogical information.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/leavenworth.html

Phillip W. Stewart chronicles the movie-making done by the federal government from World War I through the space race as he documents the motion picture holdings of the Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/frame-film.html

Audrey Amidon points the spotlight on two women who were drawn to hte Arctic regions and whose exploits were captured on film now in the National Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/polar-women.html

In 1924, eight Army airmen set out to become the first humans to circumnavigate the globe by air. This is their story.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/magellans.html

As the railroads speeded America's westward movement, post office cars made the nation's mail move faster, too.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-1.html#20100716

Esquire magazine's fight against Post Office censorship in the 1940s.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1990/spring/esquire-v-walker-1.html

Prologue may provide award-winning articles every quarter, but our new blog, Prologue: Pieces of History, provides stories daily! Untold stories from our vaults, videos, contests, and the most pe...

http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?cat=129

July marks both the birth and death of one of America's greatest writers, Ernest Hemingway. Researchers come to the Hemingway archives at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library primarily to exa...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/hemingway.html#20100707

Do you use this RSS feed? If so, please let us know by e-mailing prologue@nara.gov and saying "I use your RSS feed!" We're trying to get a good idea about who is using our RSS feed and want to kn...

http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue

During his second term as governor of Massachusetts, in 1811, Elbridge Gerry, upset with the Federalist Party's outspoken opposition to President James Madison's foreign policy, approved a contro...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/gerry.html

A timeline of the history of the National Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/dateline/

Searching through the records to find real-life candidates for the legendary figure.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/summer/pitcher.html

A look at the stylistic beauty in the Declaration of Independence on the eve of July 4.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_style.html

Eisenhower's strategy to combat Joseph McCarthy and his hunt for communists in the government.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/fall/eisenhower-and-red-menace-1.html

Finding family ties in the records of a Freedmen's Bureau experiment.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/fall/rost-home-colony.html#2010061002

Who were the real people behind Tom Joad and all the others in the John Steinbeck's classic novel of the Great Depression?

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/winter/grapes.html#2010061001

As Missouri Governor declares June 2, 2010 as National Archives and Records Administration Recognition Day, we take a look at the Kansas City archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/spring/kansas-city.html

A highlight of the Environmental Protection Agency's ambitious project to capture environmental crises and cures in the 1970s.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/spring/documerica.html

The Center for Legislative Archives maintains the records of both houses Congress, and holds a few surprises as well.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/fall/congressional.html

Remembering Liz Richardson, one of the "Red Cross girls".

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/fall/lipstick.html#2010052403

The Civil War origins of the Medal of Honor and guidance on how to find records of recipients.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/summer/medal-of-honor-1.html

A look at the military files of some of the famous and famous-to-be, including Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen, George S. Patton Jr., and Jack Keroauc.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/vips-military.html

Damani Davis shows how to use federal records to explore the lives of African American ancestors from Washington, DC.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/spring/dcslavery.html

An in-depth survey of relevant federal records from the founding of the republic through the Civil War.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/winter/hydra-slave-trade-documentation-1.html

The National Archives has billions of pieces of history in it. Here at Prologue, we?ve been collecting these "Pieces of History" ? from hero pigeons to FDR?s globe ? and have built up quite a sto...

http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?cat=4

Exhibit curator Bruce Bustard explains how the National Archives' latest exhibit makes the Civil War "strange again" for its viewers.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/spring/discovering.html

Pulitzer?prize winning historian James McPherson discusses the lasting impact of America's bloodiest war.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/spring/newnation.html

Learn how Civil War Pension Application Processing from 1861?1885 can help you research your ancestry.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/spring/civilwarpension.html

How to use an often-overlooked resource for filling out your Civil War research.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/summer/civil-war-maps.html#20100421

Lincoln's administration finds a way to work around a federal judge with Confederate sympathies.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/merrick.html#20100421

After the Civil War, African American citizens provided an oral history of their lives in bondage.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/voices.html#20100421

The story of hostile aliens and deported resident radicals interred at San Francisco's Angel Island during World War I.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/angel.html#20100414

As the railroads speeded America's westward movement, post office cars made the nation's mail move faster, too.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-1.html#20100414

How the U.S. military became the "first responders" and took charge.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/earthquake.html

Using records of veterans homes to gather information about Civil War and later veterans.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/soldiers-home.html

Lincoln's administration finds a way to work around a federal judge with Confederate sympathies.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/merrick.html

Former Confederate prisoners joined the North to help keep peace in the West.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/galvanized.html

An "extra" census helps researchers find information that may not be found anywhere else.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/fall/1885-census.html

How did the government divide up the nation into manageable pieces for the 1930 Census? Find out here.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/fall/1930-eds.html

As the country fills out its Census sheets, Prologue looks back at other surveys conducted by the United States, including the survey of the coast, explained in this Prologue article.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/spring/coast-survey.html

Get ready to Discover the Civil War as the National Archives celebrates the 150th anniversary of the conflict. Follow us @discovercivwar for artifacts, facts, and more!

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2010/nr10-76.html

The long-forgotten story of women who secretly served in the Confederate and Union Armies.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html

Tells of an American ship that brought Chinese workers to Cuba, a journey that saw the death of its captain, several mutinies by the laborers, and ended with crew members in a Havana jail.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/summer/coolie-ship-kate-hooper-1.html

NARA records help explore women's road from slavery to freedom.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/slave-women.html

New Deal agencies record women's lives, livelihoods, and struggles.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/domestics-in-the-depression.html#2010031702

Records in the National Archives document the service of a dedicated group of women religious who tended the sick and wounded during the Spanish-American War.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/fall/band-of-angels-1.html

The vague language of the Naval Act of 1916 opened the door to women volunteering in the U.S. Navy.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/yeoman-f.html

Remembering Liz Richardson, one of the "Red Cross girls".

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/fall/lipstick.html#031110

She stood up to a President, became the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court, and helped stir the woman suffrage movement.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/belva-lockwood-1.html

Finding family ties in the records of a Freedmen's Bureau experiment.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/fall/rost-home-colony.html

Learn about an invaluable source for African American family history.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1973/fall/freedmens-marriage-registers.html

Discover what the records show about life for African American refugees before the Freedmen's Bureau.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/pre-bureau.html

Our latest issue just hit the shelves! Order our print magazine, or catch us online at Scribd.com, Zinio.com or Barnes and Noble's website to get a digital copy for your laptop or e-reader. Artic...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/#2010022403

One hundred one years ago this month, the Great White Fleet finished its world tour, demonstrating America's naval might on the orders of Teddy Roosevelt. The seas must have run in the Roosevelt ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/fall/roosevelt-family-history-1.html

Were the hills really alive with the Sound of Music? This Prologue favorite tells the true story of the famous von Trapp family as we celebrate the 45th anniversary of the film's first run.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html#20100224

The Boy Scouts of America were mobilized to distribute the government's patriotic messages and warnings about spies and saboteurs on the home front.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/summer/posters-1.html

Amid White House documents and tapes, you'll find some unusual items that are now part of history.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/found-at-libs-1.html

Our latest issue just hit the shelves! Order our print magazine, or catch us online at Scribd.com, Zinio.com or Barnes and Noble's website to get a digital copy for your laptop or e-reader. Artic...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/#2010021703

Our latest issue just hit the shelves! Order our print magazine, or catch us online at Scribd.com, Zinio.com or Barnes and Noble's website to get a digital copy for your laptop or e-reader. Artic...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/#2010020403

A future cabinet member shaped government policies toward African Americans during the Depression and World War II.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/weaver.html

This vintage article from the Prologue vaults celebrates the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. 150 years after Lincoln's election, the document endures as one of the most profound announc...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/summer/emancipation-proclamation.html#

Japanese internment camp newspapers provided a sense of community in World War II, and provide a unique insight for researchers today.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/winter/wra.html

Love, dinosaur tracks, and your own letters are all part of the National Archives. Miriam Kleiman shows us the personal side of our nation's holdings.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/winter/place-archives.html

Some of the first panoramic photos of the Alaskan wilderness are held in the National Archives. Richard E. Schneider tells the story of how these century-old photos were preserved.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/winter/panorama.html

Citizens exercising their constitutional right to petition left future generations a weath of genealogical information.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/spring/genea-accompany.html

The Federal Records Centers Program provides an essential service for U.S. Government agencies, and provides you access to your government. Find out how here.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/spring/frc.html

An 1880 congressional inquiry investigated the beginnings of the African American migration from the south.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/summer/exodus.html

A look at NARA's trove of images of World War I.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/summer/battlefilm.html

Part two of the story of the pilgramages mothers and widows made to see the graves of their loved ones following World War I.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/fall/gold-star-mothers.html

Mothers and widows of U.S. soldiers who died overseas during World War I sailed to Europe to see the graves of their sons and husbands.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/summer/gold-star-mothers-1.html

The search for the real people whose stories live within the records of the National Archives brings surprises, joy, and sadness.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/extraordinary-stories.html#20100106

Nearly one-quarter of NARA's holdings are located in its regional archives, and there may be one near you.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/regions.html#20100106

How the producers of The Sound of Music altered the story of the family that endeared itself to audiences on stage and screen.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html#20100106

How to use military records to research a War of 1812 veteran.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1991/winter/war-of-1812.html

This reference article discusses the wealth of information contained in Seamen's Protection Certificate Applications.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1992/spring/seamans-protection.html

Carefully laid plans for a dramatic confrontation between two ships are upset by the outbreak of peace in the War of 1812 in this article from the Prologue vaults.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/spring/diplomacy.html

One hundred six years ago, Orville and Wilbur Wright set the wind behind the country's back and helped put us all in the air. By 1928, President Coolidge and a young Herbert Hoover wanted to remi...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/aero-conference-1.html

It took mankind thousands of years to take flight, but barely half a century to put a man on the moon once the Wright brothers developed sustained flight. That is why Neil Armstrong's small step ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/summer/20-july-1969.html

Now you can purchase high-quality National Arhives photos--from the Man on the Moon to Cliff Barryman cartoons--on our Pictopia site. Just in time for the holidays!

http://estore.archives.gov/category.aspx?categoryID=76

Shopping for that history buff or genealogist in your family? Stop by the National Archives shop, either in person or online and find the perfect gift!

http://estore.archives.gov/

What's on the back of Declaration of Independence? What about other historic documents like General Robert E. Lee's letter regarding the Battle of Gettysburg?

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/treasure/flip_side_of_history.html

Author Glenn V. Longcare helps uncover the mystery of the disappearance of one of Chicago's famous "Christmas tree ships" and its skipper, "Captain Santa" in one of the great legends of Great Lak...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/winter/christmas-tree.html

Pieces of History looks at how FDR's "best friend" helped in the war effort.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/winter/pieces-fala.html

This article from the Prologue vaults recalls the great outpouring of sympathy from the Japanese public in 1937, 4 years before Pearl Harbor, after Japanese forces sank a U.S. Navy gunboat.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/summer/two-japans-1.html

When you sit down to watch some TV after a feast this Thursday, consider the current landscape of equal rights as they appear on television. It wasn't always that way: this 2004 Prologue article ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/fall/channels-1.html

Using archival research, archaeological excavation, and tribal memory, the National Park Service explored the site of a 145 year old massacre of a Cheyenne and Arapaho village.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/summer/sand-creek-massacre-1.html

The legacies of the Great Society and the Vietnam War buildup that shape history's assessment of the nation's 36th President.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/summer/lbj.html

Forty six years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on a clear Dallas morning. This is the story of the hours before the fateful shots were fired, as told by one of Kennedy'...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/summer/jfk-last-day-1.html

Winema Riddle was one of the few women to earn a government pension for her courage in battle. Stranger still, she was a woman of the Modoc nation. Through brave ambition, she sought to foster be...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/winema.html

Lakota Chief Gall, a leader at the Battle of Little Big Horn, had to adopt a new status as an agency Indian following his surrender to the U.S. Army in 1881. This is his story.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/fall/gall.html

Daniel Nealand examines the real-life characters behind John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/winter/grapes.html

Almost 70 years ago, Orson Welles threw the nation into a panic with tales of killer aliens taking over planet earth. This is how the public responded.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/fall/war-of-worlds.html

Prologue investigates how the National Archives and JFK Presidential Library recovered stolen parts of our American archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/camelot.html

From our Prologue vaults, we look back at October 1962 when America was on the brink of all out war with the Soviet Union. From the documents of the JFK Presidential Library, retrace the history ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/fall/cuban-missiles.html

As we approach the sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War, Prologue revisits Trevor K. Plante's advice on bringing your family tree to life with Civil War-era maps.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/summer/civil-war-maps.html

150 years ago this Friday, the unofficial start of the Civil War occured when John Brown made his raid on Harpers Ferry. Lincoln and his carefully constructed cabinet would play a large part in r...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/interview.html

As the decades pass since the end of World War II, the National Archives remains an important reminder of all that was lost in such a turbulent period. This tells the story of the art and artifac...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/summer/nazi-looted-art-1.html

Fifty-nine years ago this week, United Nations forces cross the 38th parallel in one of the bloodiest moments of the Cold War. Rediscover the Forgotten War, as Prologue exposes the myths of this ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/summer/korean-myths-1.html

One hundred seventy years ago this week, the rebellious slaves aboard Amistad were indicted for piracy. Their quest for freedom played out on the high seas, and later within the U.S. Federal cour...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/amistad-1.html

At four cents an acre, the Louisiana Purchase remains one of the best real estate deals in history, and like all land purchases, took a great deal of paperwork. Now that paper trail, and the stor...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/louisiana-purchase.html

After the Civil War, African American citizens provided an oral history of their lives in bondage. Celebrating the 147th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 150th...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/voices.html

One hundred forty seven years ago Tuesday, Abraham Lincoln put pen to paper and freed a nation with the Emancipation Proclamation. Prologue celebrates this landmark moment in civil rights with a ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/summer/emancipation-proclamation.html

Psychiatric records from a government hospital provide a peek into the private lives of wealthy and prominent families and their squabbles over sanity.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/mccormick.html

This Fall, Prologue is publishing for the first time the letters of Bess Truman to her husband, President Harry Truman. To celebrate one of the most endearing marriages in presidential history, t...

http://www.youtube.com/usnationalarchives

As Prologue gets ready to release some of Bess Truman's rarely seen letters to Harry, Prologue looks at the rough start to this long and happy marriage.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/winter/proposal.html

The 33rd President often looked forward to a game of cards to relax and enjoy the company of friends or his staff ? and even a visiting British legend.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/truman-poker.html

Letters in the Truman Library reveal the unlikely relationship between the President and two of the Marx Brothers.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/truman-and-marx-brothers.html

A look at the men and women who protected and served our nations's capital, Washington, D.C., all the way from the Civil War to the Great Depression.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/spring/metro-police.html

As Prologue gets ready to release some of Bess Truman's rarely seen letters to Harry, grandson Clifton Truman Daniel recalls what is was like growing up with the Man from Independence.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/spring/grandpa-truman.html

35 years ago this week, the Little House on the Prarie premiered on televisions across America. Prologue takes a look at the paper trail left by the Charles Ingall and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/little-town-in-nara-1.html

Five separate stories from the survivors of Japan's "Hell Ships" as told through the holdings of the Access to Archival Database.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships-1.html

After opening 8.5 million pages of previously sealed documents, a final report from the panel that made public documents on Nazi and Japanese actions during World War II.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/winter/iwg.html

A sharp Navy intelligence officer predicted Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor while earning the ire of the top brass.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/summer/zacharias.html

Forty-six years ago this week, Marting Luther King, Jr. gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. This archived Prologue article provides an overview of NARA records relating to the civil rights...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/equality-in-the-sixties.html

This week marks the anniversary of the first televised Major League Baseball game. Explore a wealth of information about baseball and its illustrious past found in an unlikely place?the records o...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/baseball.html

His boat destroyed, John F. Kennedy eludes the Japanese and challenges the sea to lead his crew to safety and becomes a war hero.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/summer/pt109.html

Young Dwight Eisenhower's views on the importance of good roads later served as a catalyst in creating today's half-century-old interstate highway system.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/interstates.html

The 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican boundary line is drawn, and redrawn, amid politics and turmoil on both sides of the border.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/summer/mexico-1.html

First YouTube, then Flickr, now Facebook! The US National Archives is going Web 2.0. Look at historic pictures, find out what's on at an Archives location near you, and interact with our nine bil...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/US-National-Archives/128463482993

In pre-air-conditioning America, Good Humor and Popsicle square off in search of market share in the growing frozen sucker market.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/popsicle-1.html

Out of the nine million images in our Still Pictures section, these eleven images are the most popular. See them here, or on our new U.S. National Archives Facebook page.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/winter/top-images.html

In 1944, Japan's plans for a final decisive counterattack against allied forces in the Pacific, called "The Z Plan," fell into the hands of American military intelligence personnel, giving the al...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/z-plan-1.html

August 4, 2009, marks the 219th birthday of the U.S. Coast Guard. In the mid-18th century the Coast Guard worked with another organization, the U.S. Life-Saving Servce, to save those in need off ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1987/winter/us-life-saving-service-1.html

The first in a five part series from our archives, Greg Bradsher explores how German diplomatic officer Fritz Kolbe - code named George Wood - fed the United States and its allies valuable infor...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/spring/fritz-kolbe-1.html

As the railroads speeded America's westward movement, post office cars made the nation's mail move faster, too. Here's a new perspective on the nation's expansion to the Pacific.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/fall/fast-mail-1.html#20090729

How four simple words became one of Ronald Reagan's best lines in one of his most memorable speeches.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/berlin.html

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) plays an integral role in preserving American history through providing assistance to state and local governments, colleges and...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/nhprc.html

Expert Trevor K. Plante guides readers through researching US Army Indian Scouts in this genealogy feature.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/indian.html

In the 1850s, there was intense competition for the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, a key portal to the opening of the West. Northerners and Southerners competed for the honor...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/bridge.html

The story of how President Ulysses S. Grant became the first, and so far, only U.S. president to testify voluntarily in a criminal trial. The testimony was found, properly filed many years ago, w...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/fall/whiskey-ring-1.html

45 Years ago this month, Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act. Prologue looks back with an archived article highlighting the African American experience in the Panama Canal.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/panama-canal.html

The story of hostile aliens and deported resident radicals interned at San Francisco's Angel Island during World War I

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/angel.html

Five men were arrested in June 1972 at the National Democratic Headquarters in the Watergate hotel complex, kicking off a series of events that would eventually lead to the resignation of Preside...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/fall/tapes.html

110 years ago this July one of America's greatest writers, Ernest Hemingway, was born in a small Chicago suburb. Read about Hemingway and how his involvement in two world wars, and a handful of o...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/hemingway.html

Benjamin Franklin wasn’t the only one who played a part in establishing our postal system. Learn more about Hugh Finlay and the postal system in Colonial America

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/finlay.html

In this article from the Prologue's 1997 issue, the story of African Americans in the New Deal is told through the documents of the National Archives.

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/domestics-in-the-depression.html

The U.S. Government took major steps during World War II to protect Hoover Dam, a major source of electricity for southern California and seen as a possible target for Japanese bombers. And they ...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/summer/hoover-dam-1.html

Interested in purchasing single articles from Prologue Magazine? Now you can on Scribd.com for just a dollar!

http://www.scribd.com/group/78640-prologue-magazine

45 years ago this month, Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race and gender. Learn how President Johnson laid the groundwork fo...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/civil-rights-act-1.html

Her gravestone sits on Omaha beach where 65 years ago this June allied troops landed as part of D-Day, history's largest amphibious invasion. Before and after the assault on Normandy, American Re...

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/fall/lipstick.html

Prologue reflects on the National Archives' 75 years

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2009/summer/history.html